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Blastolene Brothers At It Again: The Rocket II Trike

Tuesday, June 15th, 2010

We love the Blastolene Brothers’ sense of adventure and madness, it all translates very well into how they build hot rods. That is to say, their hot rods are better and more original than everyone else’s hot rods, a point we reinforced by awarding “Piss’d Off Pete,” their last creation Best In Show at the 2009 SEMA show in Las Vegas.

But what happens when you team up the Blastolene Brothers with an equally mad artist with the dream of building the most batshit tricycle in history? You get the Rocket II, a Blown-Hemi powered, center-hub steered, thousand horsepower bit of insane that’s somehow legal on US roads. Tim “Frogman” Cotterill stops by Jay Leno’s garage with a toy so crazy, Jay won’t even ride it.

Video after the jump.

[Source: Jay Leno's Garage]

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15.06.2010 News, Video No Comments

Tank-Engined Rover Proves There is No Replacement For Displacement

Saturday, January 9th, 2010

I’ve heard of some crazy sleepers in my day, but this one takes the cake. An average man from a sleepy village in England decided one day he wanted to go 200mph. Lamborghini’s, Ferrari’s and Gumperts were out of his price range, so he simply did what so many Americans do in their garages every weekend: he built his 200 mph car himself. His starting point? The Rover SD1. His engine? A 27-liter Merlin Tank engine producing 1600 lb/ft of torque at a matching 1600 rpm.

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09.01.2010 News, Photos 2 Comments

Video: Jay Leno Tests the Chevrolet Volt

Tuesday, December 29th, 2009

Personality goes a long way with Jay Leno, and it must, because, lets get this out of the way now, this is one of the worst shot videos in the history of automotive journalism. That being said, Jay gets answers from the Volt’s chief engineer, Andrew Farah (no relation), and takes it for a spin around Burbank. I love Leno’s vast experience with cars and immense wealth of knowledge, and although he’s always polite and asking important questions, there are quite a few moments of tension between Leno and Farah, most obvious when Leno compares the Volt to a 1916 Owens Magnetic, an electric car nearly 100 years old that shares many technologies with the Volt. Watch for yourself.

29.12.2009 News, Reviews, Video 3 Comments

Jay Leno Gets a Ride in the McLaren P11 – VIDEO

Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009

Jay Leno: Lucky guy. He got to take a trip over to the Dunsfold Aerodrome in England, better known as the Top Gear test track, and brought back with him some very impressive footage of the pre-production supercar in action. This video is interesing enough on its own merits, but, speaking as someone who has watched more than his share of Top Gear in my life, I can say this car is insanely fast, even without a lap timer. The speed at which the P11 negotiates the Hammerhead is absolutely incredible (and I just re-watched the Gumpert Apollo sequence to be sure), and in the rain the test driver nearly loses it going around Gambon, but recovers just in time.

23.12.2009 News, Video No Comments

Why Jay Leno is Cooler Than You

Thursday, December 10th, 2009

Matt Interviews Jay

In the summer of 2008, I took a tour of Jay Leno’s Garage, and interviewed the man himself for over 3 hours about his collection, what he loves about cars, and life. You can find the entire set of interviews over at Fast Lane Daily, though you may have to search a bit, but what you won’t find is my own personal mega-gallery of shots taken inside the garage. I never intended on publishing these photos, but since Jalopnik ran quite a few photos of the inside of the garage yesterday, what’s the harm?

Unedited Leno Mega-Gallery Awesomeness after the jump.

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10.12.2009 Editorials, News, Photos 1 Comment